Saturday, February 27, 2016

Whispers of Forodwaith



The Forochel Epic quest reward, the Breastplate of Voima, has finally seen some use. Would you believe it's been sitting in Nathrien's vault since early 2011? I've held on to this for so long because it's a unique skin from the Shadows of Angmar. It probably would have continued to collect dust had I not found it's counterpart leggings, Golubadanir, while deeding in Angmar. I honestly wasn't sure what I could create with the set, but I gave it my best.




There had been some early difficulties in using the chest and leggings. Everything, save the straps and silver areas, dyed. The straps on chest fall somewhere between burgundy and rose. The straps on the leggings fall somewhere between sienna and rust. The silvery mail elements have a color that can't be duplicated or approximated easily. Coordinating that mess of default colors was painful. Personally, I felt that bringing out the rose/burgundy in the Breastplate of Voima would be the best option, as it would add more balance. I chose burgundy as it gives the outfit a darker appearance. I could have chose rose if I wanted a greater contrast. At least there was some flexibility with the suggested pieces.

If anyone knows of pieces with that same silver in them, let me know in the comments. Right now, I can only think of the North Star armor pieces, the Yule Hooded Cloak, and the Yule Hoodless Cloak.


Before wrapping up this week's entry, there are two things I'd like to mention.

First, I'd like to announce a couple of LOTRO blogs. I'd like to welcome back Vincenzo of My Middle-earth Mode, who stepped away from cosmetic blogging back in 2014.  I'd also like to mention Teriadwyn's Closet, which started earlier this month! Stop by and see what they've posted and keep a lookout for upcoming creations!

Second, I finished sifting through my backlog of emails this week. It appears that I had multiple complaints in December about another site taking and altering screenshots from this blog without linking back to the originals. They've been removed, courtesy of others complaining on my behalf. This happened while I was away from outfitting between Thanksgiving and New Years. Yes, it upset me slightly to hear of this, despite not knowing until well after. I work hard to produce the content on the blog and produce quality images for everybody. However, the internet is a public domain. I might take them, but I don't exactly own these screenshots, as they're from a Turbine game. All I can do is quote the following from the About Me page, which has been here since the creation of Material Middle-earth:

"If you need to use images from this blog on your site, please give credit or link back to the original image or post. Even though the images are from a Turbine Inc. game, and properly credited here, please be courteous. Any reposted/repurposed image that I take from another site is paired with a proper link."

I'm not one to track someone down, but courtesy does go a long way.


Head: Worn Hood (Burgundy, Beorning intro)**
Shoulders: Shoulders of the Mighty Verse (Burgundy, Minstrel class vendor in the Twenty-first Hall)***
Chest: Breastplate of Voima (Black, selectable reward from Vol. 1 Book 13 Chapter 4)****
Legs: Golubadanir (Black, selectable reward from Dark Vengeance quest)****
Hands: Ceremonial Gloves of the Gloom-bane (Burgundy, skirm camp cosmetics vendor - Rift heavy armor)
Feet: Ceremonial Boots of the Gloom-bane (Burgundy, skirm camp cosmetics vendor - Rift heavy armor)

**For males, the appearance of this hood is reversed with Radagast's Hood, which is also from the Beorning intro.
***Available at Lalia's Market at time of posting.
****These also appear as random pre-50 world drops.

8 comments:

  1. The breastplate is really unique! Love how you matched it with burgundy.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Mori! Burgundy is one of my favorite colors. I may not feature it here often, but I always dye everything in the dressing room panel that color. I might have to give burgundy more love soon!

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  2. oh I love this! I have seen so few players in my time in Lotro wearing these chest and leggings. Perhaps it is because their unique skin is... that unique XD. I like them in black paired with burgundy, it is balanced, and the burgundy doesn't make the rose straps look "out of place". It is a fresh look with items of the past :) For the silver, it doesn't come exactly close, but perhaps the heavy Galtrev sets in white could do, or the Heavy Nadhin, like the shoulders and boots

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Gloredh! I don't think I've ever seen anybody wear the chest and leggings, at least at the same time. I did some poking around after writing this post mid-week and found that Hymne did something similar in her outfit, Black Rose, almost five years ago. She used rose dye in hers with different pieces and it looks just as balanced as what you see here. I'll certainly have to peek at the heavy Dunland and Nadhin sets when I have a chance...thanks for that info!

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  3. Love this outfit, really original!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! It feels good to introduce unused skins on this blog :)

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  4. Oh that's just beautiful! Great job! It's amazing how you made burgundy fit the Forochel theme when many if not most would stick to blues.

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    1. Thanks! The outfit didn't feel like is belong to any region in particular, at least at first. As I sat and stared at it, I thought I should take my screenshots in Forochel, since that's where I found the Breastplate of Voima. Then the idea of Forodwaith, the great frozen wasteland of northern Beleriand, and the region's close proximity to the Gap of Ilmen, the cold, dark place where the moon was said to disappear as it traveled around Arda, popped into my mind. Black and silver; the night sky and the moon.

      And, of course, burgundy was added to the mix to keep the outfit dark and keep a minimal number of colors.

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